Omar Abdullah urges HC to hear divorce plea in-camera

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today urged the Delhi High Court to conduct in-camera proceedings on his plea seeking divorce from his estranged wife Payal Abdullah.

Omar's counsel made the oral submission before a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Deepa Sharma, which, however, did not pass any order on the plea.

Advocate Malavika Rajkotia, appearing for Omar, said that in-camera proceedings be conducted in the matter as it was a family matter and whatever happens in court, it is published by the media.

She said her client, who is a politician, has a right to privacy and his privacy was required. She said she wanted to bring this submission to the court's notice and it is now up to the court to decide.

The court also allowed Omar's plea seeking an early hearing in the matter.

The plea was opposed by Payal's counsel who said such a prayer was earlier declined by the court.

The bench, however, said the hearing in the matter should be expedited and listed it for hearing on July 1.

Omar has sought divorce on the ground that their marriage has broken down irretrievably.

Payal has filed her response to the plea, but the court said it was not on record and directed that the plea be placed in the court records.

The application by Omar has been moved in his petition challenging a trial court decision of August 30, 2016 dismissing his plea for divorce. He has contended that their marriage has "irretrievably broken down".

The trial court had held that he had failed to prove the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. It had also said that Omar could not prove his claims of "cruelty" or "desertion" which were the grounds alleged by him for grant of decree of divorce.

In his appeal against the trial court order, Omar had claimed that his marriage had broken down irretrievably and he has not enjoyed conjugal relationship since 2007. The couple, married on September 1, 1994, were living separately since 2009. The couple have two sons who are staying with their mother.